Season 1, Episode 26
Original air date: May 16, 1988
Star date: 41986.0

Mission summary

Because Picard has to attend an emergency conference on Starbase 718, Riker commands the Enterprise when it stumbles upon a decrepit little capsule headed for a mine field. With a few hours to spare before the boss returns, Data suggests investigating the capsule. He and Worf beam down and discover several preserved meat popsicles (and a few corpses) within.

Data has the survivors, such as they are, beamed back to the ship. The three people–a woman named Clare, and two men, Sonny and Ralph–were cryogenically frozen in the late twentieth century after they had died. This apparently presents no difficulty for Dr. Crusher, who awakens them. Clare faints at the sight of Worf, and it’s clear these three will need some adjusting to the future.

Picard, meanwhile, returns in a hurry and has La Forge lay in a course for the Neutral Zone. Several Federation outposts have been destroyed, and the Enterprise is being sent to investigate. Though conventional wisdom says it’s the Romulans and Worf and Riker think the ship should come in guns blazing, Picard is skeptical that the Romulans intend to be hostile. Naturally, Picard is shocked to learn that in the midst of this crucial mission a bunch of frozen hillbillies are on his ship. Clare won’t stop crying about her dead kids, Sonny keeps looking for his next booze fix, and Ralph constantly demands to see the captain regarding his “accounts” which he’s sure are of great value now. Picard finally goes down there to talk to them:

PICARD: I don’t think you are aware of your situation, or of how much time has passed.
RALPH: Believe me, I’m fully cognizant of where I am, and when. It is simply that I have more to protect than a man in your position could possibly imagine. No offense, but a military career has never been considered to be upwardly mobile. I must contact my lawyer.
PICARD: Your lawyer has been dead for centuries.
RALPH: Yes, of course I know that, but he was a full partner in a very important firm. Rest assured, that firm is still operating.
PICARD: That’s what this is all about. A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We’ve eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We have grown out of our infancy.

I’m not buying it, but all right.

Picard returns to the bridge to find that the Federation outposts aren’t just destroyed, they’ve been completely obliterated. There’s no trace of them at all. Soon a “disturbance” appears in the area: a Romulan ship, complete with improved cloaking technology. Ralph has picked up that something weird is going on and decides to sneak onto the bridge just as Picard makes contact with two Romulans from the other ship: Tebok and Thei. They claim they are investigating the destruction of their own outposts, and when Picard asks them if they know who or what is responsible, Ralph blurts out that the Romulans haven’t got a clue–they’re bluffing hoping the Federation knows. Picard, furious at Ralph but acknowledging that he’s right, calls them on it:

TEBOK: We do not know who is responsible. Why entire outposts on both sides have been carried off.
PICARD: I would like to offer a proposal.
THEI: An alliance? Between the Romulans and the Federation?
PICARD: Nothing so grandiose. Just this. Cooperation. There was an intent here. Whoever or whatever did this is more powerful than either of us. Let’s collaborate. Let’s share whatever we learn about what has happened here.
THEI: Agreed. On this one issue. And only if it is convenient and appropriate at the time.
TEBOK: Captain Picard, because your actions are those of a thoughtful man, I’ll tell you this. Matters more urgent caused our absence. Now, witness the result. Outposts destroyed, expansion of the Federation everywhere. Yes, we have indeed been negligent, Captain. But no more.
PICARD: Commander, we have made some progress here. Let’s not ruin that with unnecessary posturing.
TEBOK: Your presence is not wanted. Do you understand my meaning, Captain? We are back.

And just when you thought the episode was over, we have to return to the soap opera of the frozen hillbillies. Counselor Troi helps Clare look up her relatives, Picard teaches Ralph a valuable lesson about the uselessness of money, and Sonny decides to embark on a new musical career.

But wait, there’s more! Back on the bridge, Riker laments that the visitors won’t be staying long on the ship.

PICARD: That would take us in the wrong direction. Our mission is to go forward, and it’s just begun. Set velocity. Warp six, Mister La Forge.
LAFORGE: Aye, sir. Warp six.
PICARD: There’s still much to do. Still so much to learn. Mister La Forge, engage.

Their mission is to go forward? And it’s just begun? And there’s still so much to learn? Hint hint whack.

Analysis

Today is my birthday, and it’s cosmically unfair that this is the episode I happened to land for review. I honestly remembered nothing about it. Zip. Zero. Nada. I didn’t remember the Romulans (though I guessed, based on the title), and I definitely didn’t remember the FroYo Gang.

I came close to liking the Romulan plot, mostly because I love the Borg and am excited for their appearance on the show. But even without the mystery threat, I like the setup of having Picard establish long-overdue diplomatic relations. It seems like the kind of thing Picard would be assigned to do a lot. I would have preferred it if Picard and not Ralph had figured out the Romulans’ bluff. But again, the show tells us instead of showing us everything. Do we see the Romulans behave arrogantly? Do we see them violent, then tender? Do we see a curiosity or a fascination with humans? No, no, no, no, and no, but we do get to hear Counselor Troi list all of these things, which as we all know is just as compelling.

But honestly, I’d watch those five minutes between Picard and the Romulans on loop for an hour rather than watch the excruciating scenes of the FroYo Gang again. Ralph and Sonny are jokes. The only person who could conceivably have been a real person is Clare, who I honestly felt sorry for. She didn’t choose this future. She has woken up to learn everything she knows is gone. If the Enterprise had found her and only her, I can imagine a really sad, bittersweet story of a woman learning to live all over again. Her scenes with Troi (look! They found a use for Troi that actually makes sense!) were some of the more compelling, and were certainly more interesting than watching Sonny make martini jokes with Data or Ralph go on and on about his galaxy-class load of privilege.

The only thing worse was watching the TNG crew walk around like the future’s gift to the universe judging the poor, backwards neanderthals, as if their own values as established by now are remotely praiseworthy. Take them talking about Sonny, for instance:

CRUSHER: There was marked deterioration of every system in his body. Probably from massive chemical abuse. Unbelievable.
PICARD: That sounds like someone who hated life. Yet he had himself frozen presumably so he could go through it all again.
CRUSHER: Too afraid to live, too scared to die.

Yeah, so “unbelievable” that alcohol dependence existed in the past. Obviously only people who “hate life” and are “too afraid to live” drink, not like us at all! Our Romulan ale is only for special occasions, and the holodeck, and cold, dark nights in space. Once the guy wakes up, it’s clear he’s just a hoopy frood who likes to party too much, not some hopeless degenerate. The best example of their awful arrogance, though, is when Crusher and Picard are discussing why anyone would freeze themselves: “People feared dying. It terrified them.” Yeah, back then, when people feared death, the dweebs. Not like now at all! What the hell? This is also a huge ship’s complement, and yet no one is available to help these people adjust to their new lives? Not a single historian or social worker can be found to ease the transition, to answer questions? Not even a computer terminal so they can learn about the world they’re going to be a part of shortly? No wonder they go crazy with boredom and anxiety down there.

I would have given this a warp 2, but the the hillbilly music cues knocked a whole warp point off. This is dreck.

Torie’s Rating: Warp 1 (on a scale of 1-6)

Thread Alert: Nothing says “Welcome to the twenty-fourth century” like identical prison jumpers. The thing I love the most about this outfit, which I’m going to generously assume is supposed to be a throwback to the jumpsuits of TOS, is the turtleneck. Because turtlenecks are just so timeless.

Best Line: PICARD: This is the twenty-fourth century. Material needs no longer exist.
RALPH: Then what’s the challenge?
PICARD: The challenge, Mister Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.

Trivia/Other Notes: Maurice Hurley intended for this episode to be the first of a trilogy that introduced the Borg (who are, of course, the real reason for the obliteration of the outposts). The writers’ strike, however, meant dropping these ambitions and saving the Borg introduction for next season’s “Q Who” (though this is technically their first appearance in the series).

About Torie Atkinson

24 Comments

I’ll say this much: “The Neutral Zone” was not as bad as I remembered it. I always placed it close to the level of “The Way to Eden,” but while it isn’t a good episode by any stretch of the imagination, it isn’t a complete write-off—even though it basically starts off sounding like filler. “We’re bored and just sitting around waiting for a shuttle, so let’s go poke at that old vessel to kill some time.” I had forgotten this was the setup for the Borg’s later appearance, which seems strange because I thought they were really far away from the Federation, but okay. It’s also another example of an episode building tension for something we won’t see for a while yet, while not doing enough for the story we’re currently watching.

Like Torie, I was put off by the constant moralizing and mockery of the Twentieth Century. Enough already! The scene where Picard and Dr. Crusher are offering their commentary at the back of Sickbay, and talking about the patients while they’re being awakened, kind of made me sick. Meanwhile, Picard chastises Data for bringing these frozen people aboard, when as far as he knew they were still alive, but doesn’t criticize the doctor for reviving them even though she realized they were clinically dead? Picard and Riker don’t demonstrate any compassion or intellectual curiosity about these relics, and it’s unsettling that Data so often is the one who has that true desire to make new discoveries and help others.

Then there’s just a lot of stuff that doesn’t make any sense. Picard barely seems to know anything about the Romulans, though this is likely an excuse for Troi to get all of us up to speed, and give us their new interpretation of Romulan culture. Has Worf never seen a manual door, even on Earth? His instinct to phaser his way through a door when there’s a handle right in front of him doesn’t speak well of his intelligence—and here we get the first sign that Worf is a little bit prejudiced toward the Romulans. “You killed my father, now prepare to die!” Picard sends Troi to the guest lounge, but she ends up at Clare’s quarters? And looks up her family history without checking to make sure that nothing traumatic happened. What if she’d found out her son was killed in a freak ballooning accident right after Clare died, or grew up to become a terrorist? Risky.

I did appreciate that they came up with a good range of personalities to have different responses to waking up 300 years in the future, even if every single joke fell flat. And I never thought I’d see someone pat a woman on the ass on TNG, but there it is. Torie is so right about the fact that not a single historian stepped forward to interview these people. Remember when the original Enterprise discovered Khan? Marla McGivers was all over that. It seems this crew doesn’t remember Khan though, because they don’t hesitate to wake up the dangerously unstable people from their past.

Torie didn’t mention that this is Marc Alaimo’s second appearance on TNG, as the Romulan commander, a role not too different from his portrayal of Gul Dukat on DS9. The Romulans were a definite highlight of this episode. Though they were given very little screen time, they made a big impact. I love their freaking gigantic warbirds, which are far more dangerous looking than the old birds of prey and completely dwarf a Galaxy-class starshipt. I don’t know if their reveal made as big a splash on fans at the time as the show’s producers hoped, but it wasn’t too shabby.

Finally, I have to comment on Data’s report that television didn’t last much past 2040. Optimistic, my friend.

I’ll give this a grudging Warp 2, mainly because I think I’ve lost all perspective and need to recalibrate my sensors for the second season. We’re taking one week off while Torie’s away in TNG rehab, then we’ll be back with our summary of the season and revised warp ratings, if any, before launching right into the next season. After all, we still have so much to learn. You do want us to keep going forward with these, right?

2.Toryx

Posted May 17, 2012 at 9:44 AM

Happy birthday, Torie! I hope you can find something considerably more enjoyable to do now that the post is up to celebrate.

This is another one of those episodes that had so much potential that was just wasted by a lot of posturing. Doesn’t anyone know that by having the Enterprise crew talk about how primitive humans back in the day were, they sound exactly like Mr. 1 percent there?

I really liked the idea of the culture class between people of the two different time zones, and I love the idea of going to sleep one day and waking up in the Star Trek verse. Picard’s words about enriching yourself being the challenge appeals to me tremendously. The whole galaxy of potential waiting for these folks is pretty exciting and I’m glad that they at least alluded to it, even if the writers didn’t really approach it at all in an interesting fashion.

The Romulan plot was also fascinating and full of possibility. I loved the idea that the Romulans had just vanished for a few decades and now they’re back. I also loved the mystery behind the thing that distracted them. I really liked the interchange between Picard and the Romulans. But it’s a lot of set-up without much payoff and it doesn’t go evenly at all with the hibernated group.

It really seems as though the first season had a lot of people with bright ideas but not a single one of them who knew how to write. I think the near misses (or in some cases, the distant misses) actually makes the first season more painful than it necessarily needed to be.

Wow, PIcard and the others look so much taller when they stand on their soap boxes. Putting aside that ‘message’ stories are usually badly written and not very entertaining, they should really be avoided when the point of the message is to lecture your paying customers how awful they are. The episode writers seemed to have forgotten that they are playing to those stupid, infantile 20th century rubes.
This episode is also an excellant example of how TV writers know nothing of world building. First off, no one mentions that this situation, starbases mysteriously destoryed is exactly what happen 75 years earlier when the Romulans tested the Federation, (Balance of Terror) nor did anyone seem to remember that the 21st century on Earth was one of gloabl war and anarchy, (Encounter At Farpoint.) This episode is distilled posturing and holier than than smugness.
Happy Birthdya Torie! Mine was the 14th, I stayed home from the day job, played Call of Duty and watched John Carpenter’s The Thing on blu-ray.

4.Lemnoc

Posted May 17, 2012 at 11:03 AM

For all its shrill and meandering pointlessness, some things about this episode work and wondered why it came last instead of much earlier. The device of people from the 20th century awakening in the 24th could have yielded the series a lot of important exposition early on, and a tour of the Enterprise through their eyes might’ve opened ours as well.

Because these reveals come so late and arrive so preachy, it’s all pretty meh. What’s the point? Like so much of the dreck of this season, it’s all tee-up to a drive that goes nowhere. Hook or slice, the ball just kind of disappears.

You almost have to work at it to make Romulans this boring and non-essential.

This season, our long shared nightmare, is over.

5.DemetriosX

Posted May 17, 2012 at 2:18 PM

First of all, happy birthday to Torie.

This episode just never worked for me and having been through the whole rewatch of TOS and TNG: Season 1, I understand why a lot better. The entire interaction of the crew with the corpsicles is Roddenberry’s utopianism and distaste for the flaws of modern society in a concentrated form. It all feels exactly like those earlier episodes that had his clumsy rewrites mucking up an otherwise decent concept. It’s all more irritating than anything else. The rich guy is a horrible strawman, the drunk and the weepy woman are clumsy stereotypes. Bleh!

I remain unconvinced that the threat in this episode is supposed to be the Borg. Q takes the Enterprise hundreds of light-years off the beaten path to expose them to the Borg and even says that it would normally be decades (?), centuries (?), a long time before their first encounter. That doesn’t fit with whole colonies vanishing now. I’d also love to know what “more important matters” had occupied the Romulans. Internal dissension? Some other external threat? They didn’t even really follow up on the declaration that the Romulans are back. There were lots of good Romulan episodes in DS9, but I don’t remember much going on in TNG, except the stuff with alternate Yar’s daughter.

6.Lemnoc

Posted May 17, 2012 at 3:19 PM

I remain unconvinced that the threat in this episode is supposed to be the Borg.

I’m with DemetriosX in thinking the Borg reveal was some ginned up retcon by some writer feigning prescience in retrospect for bragging rights: “I thought that up!”

I have no doubt the writers were aching to have some existential threat worthy of the Federation and had been thwarted at every turn by Roddenberry and his micromanaging entourage. Instead the writer’s bible gave them the Ferengi (the HORROR!) and you had GeneR pissing himself that he didn’t want bad guys like Klingons and Romulans staining up his pure white righteous utopia. Drama—it’s so… so… messy!!

Meanwhile, you had Star Wars and its imperial menace, and even the ST film franchise itself and their towering threats and serial bad guys, at the same time suggesting a different way to write TNG dramas.

So I do think there are stabs to create greater threat—the Crystalline Entity, last episode’s mind-scabies, this episode’s vague warnings of doom—but nothing about this season has suggested a Long Game, a long view. Just throwing a lot of pasta and meatballs at the wall and hoping something, anything, might stick.

7.etomlins

Posted May 17, 2012 at 5:25 PM

This episode is a fitting bookend to the first season, I suppose. The series began with an episode full of pompous speechifying about 24th-century human society’s moral superiority and it ends something the same way.

It’s not just preachy, though, it’s mean. Picard’s thoroughly disgusted all throughout with even having to deal with the three refugees, saying “keep them away from me” the same way he orders the crew to keep him from running into little kids. You have comments like the “he must have hated his life” one, the snide remark about being terrified of death, and my favorite, the moment when Riker says that none of the three rescued people has “much to redeem them”–presumably this also includes Clare, who as far I can tell had done nothing worthy of contempt (unless fainting at the sight of Worf was enough to earn Riker’s scorn.) And finally you’ve got Picard delivering his final dismissal, saying that keeping the three survivors from the past on board any longer would be like going “in the wrong direction”. (Sort of like pretending to be a ’40s hardboiled detective, eh, Captain?)

And for all that, the stupid 20th-century relics ask some astute questions. Sonny asks what everyone does for entertainment and…yeah, what do they do? Is there really nothing like television any more, or professional sports? The popular entertainments we do see throughout TNG are so limited in scope. More amusing and more important is Ralph’s question about why the shipboard comm system doesn’t have any security. Picard’s lofty answer that everyone aboard a starship has “self-discipline” is not a satisfying one. There are children aboard the ship for one thing; are we supposed to believe that they all do what they’re told? We’ve already seen one particular child use the comm system to take control of the ship, too.

It’s weird how the Romulan story is shunted into a “B plot”. Really not much happens until the final couple of sequences and those end in a slightly silly anticlimax: Picard proposes a collaboration, the Romulans agree for about five seconds and then abruptly tell Picard to get stuffed, and that’s the end of it. Torie’s notion that they should have limited the A plot just to one person, Clare, makes good sense partly because, without all the pointless scenes with Ralph and Sonny, they could have spent more time on the Romulans.

And that would be it for the Romulans until the third season and the episode in which LaForge and a Romulan soldier are stranded on a hostile planet–rather a strong episode from what I remember–and the superb episode “The Defector”. Good episodes both but rather far removed from that first-season promise that the Romulans were back. I guess the writer’s strike had something to do with that, though.

I think part of this desire to have a new villain stems from the fact that they’d effectively lost the Klingons as a major threat, what with that darned peace treaty. Of course, they still found ways to create dramatic conflicts with their allies, but you’re right: They seemed desperate to come up with a dangerous new opponent for the Federation, and they kept missing the mark.

@7 etomlins

I don’t disagree with your assessment of how small the Enterprise crew comes off in their treatment and reactions to their guests. I guess none of them are aware of how useful someone from the twentieth century can be, such as, for instance, a whale biologist. Then again, they don’t even have much respect for someone only 70-some-odd years displaced; look at how they treat Scotty in the season 6 episode, “Relics”! However, I will defend them on one point. When Picard says keeping the three survivors from the past on board any longer would be like going “in the wrong direction,” I believe he was referring to Riker’s wish that they could take them back to Earth themselves–which is the wrong direction for an exploratory vessel. Even though they just went back to Earth a couple of episodes ago…

9.CaitieCait

Posted May 18, 2012 at 9:54 AM

С днем рождения, Тори! More when I’ve time, but wanted to sneak that in before it gets too stale-dated. :)

@Eugene 8
No Eugene I think the intent wasn’t about spical direction but that keeping them on board would be looking to the past and they should only look to the future. (I guess their hoping to repeated the past ’cause it was so much fun.) You’d think someone who like 20th century crime fiction would be thrilled to meet someone from even close to that time period.
However we have learned why it is so dang easy to take over the Enterpeise — they have NO security features because everyone is trusted. hahahahhahaha

Hey everyone, thanks for the birthday wishes! As Eugene mentioned I am off traveling right now so we’re taking a week off next week before the wrap-up. I’ll have to wait to respond to your comments but I just wanted to say thanks!

12.Dep1701

Posted May 18, 2012 at 11:59 PM

Other than the new warbird, and the return of the Romulans ( with their completely unnecessary forehead ridges ) this episode has nearly nothing to recommend it. I think I’ve watched this maybe twice since it first aired some thirty years ago.

BTW; in a VERY subtle in joke, the number on the capsule was a tip of the cap to M.A.S.H. ( 4077 ).

Ralph appeared again in a TNG novel called Debtors’ Planet by W. R. Thompson. He was the Federation ambassador to the Ferengi.

14.Ludon

Posted May 19, 2012 at 12:07 PM

I guess I’ve been looking at the three guests differently all these years. I saw them not as examples of people from the 80s but as examples of characters from 80s entertainment. Crossover episodes rise and fall in popularity and I want to say there had been a brief rise around the time this episode had been made. But, who could Star Trek have crossed over with? Babel-on-too-long Five? Not an easy fit. (And it wasn’t even in production at the time.) They could have used the holodeck to bring in a few characters from another show but without a logical way to have TNG cast members appear on that other show it wouldn’t have been a true crossover. So, they went with generic characters.

Additionally, in looking back, I see this episode as an interesting companion to the suspended Klingons awakening in a new time. “Did you not think that the war could be over?” Here, we see Humans (sort of) dealing with the culture shock.

As I said last week, I think they missed an interesting opportunity. Coming of age could have been the set up then last week’s episode builds the tension – leading to the Romulan appearance at the end – then this episode taking things to the cliff-hanger. That could have set a direction for the second season. As interesting as I find this idea, I’m not sure that I’d have liked to have seen a long continuous arc dealing with a Federation / Romulan shooting war. However, Cultural/political/economic battles like the – one over control of Sherman’s Planet in The Trouble With Tribbles – could have provided some interesting milestones for the second season.

Lastly. I hope you had a Happy Birthday Torie.

15.ShameAndFailure

Posted May 19, 2012 at 10:29 PM

Happy Birthday Torie!

16.Dep1701

Posted May 20, 2012 at 5:16 PM

Yes, Happy belated birthday to Torie from me as well

17.Toryx

Posted May 24, 2012 at 8:47 AM

Since we’re in the short downtime between the episode recaps and the Season 1 summary, I just wanted to let you guys (Eugene and Torie) know that I appreciate all the work you put into the re-watch. There were some damned difficult episodes to watch again in this season but I greatly enjoyed reading each summary and the comments that spun off of them. This is a great community we’ve got here and I hope it can keep going strong throughout the rest of the series.

I’m really looking forward to the episodes to come and all the great discussion that’ll follow.

Thank you so much. We really appreciate the community here and everyone who takes the time to read and re-watch with us, even if they never comment. I do sometimes wonder if this is the best way I could be spending my time, or wish we got just a little more attention, but I look back at all the great conversations we’ve had and I’m glad we’ve all stuck with it this long. I plan to keep doing this for as long as possible! And I’m definitely looking forward to sharing better episodes with all of you.

19.CaitieCait

Posted May 25, 2012 at 9:47 AM

I’m with Toryx. I really like it here. It’s fun being the (hopefully lovable!) curmudgeon, when I’ve never been that before. :)

And I always enjoy the conversations here. It’s fun to talk with fans of Trek who don’t feel the need to “fight their corner”, as it were, about who/what is awesome and who/what is ZOMG THE WORST-EVAR* AND HITLER LIKED $CHR AS WELL YOU KNOW! We have disagreements in an almost Roddenberryesque perfect-society type way. It’s kind of beautifully ironic.

I’m back! And jetlagged! But finally able to respond. Thanks again for all the birthday wishes!

@ 1 Eugene
I had actually forgotten about the ass slap. Amazing how you can block things from your memory.

Anyway, I didn’t realize that was Marc Alaimo! Gul Dukat kept me watching DS9 long after I should have. No wonder the Romulan scenes, brief though they are, are so compelling.

@ 2 Toryx
Agreed on all counts. The 20th century people were a huge missed opportunity to show what the ST universe has to offer: the opportunities for self-enrichment, for contributing to a greater good, for being part of something challenging and exciting. It’s mentioned directly in a moralizing speech by Picard but never expressed.

I, too, was interested in the mystery of what kept the Romulans away. I don’t know that we ever get the answer, which is probably because the writers didn’t have one.

@ 3 bobsandiego
Sounds like fun! I watched The Thing not too long ago and was so impressed at how intelligently and logically everyone responded to the situation, instead of the usual “I know, I’ll go out walking alone, and then make sure to run up the stairs!” type movies.

@ 4 Lemnoc
Amen. I like the idea of doing this earlier in the series, to see the Enterprise through their eyes. Also, isn’t it weird that the only person who doesn’t like the future is the Gordon Gecko guy? I would have liked to see a few reasons why these people don’t like this future, not just all the ways in which it is awesome and special. For instance, what room is there for Clare–presumably a stay-at-home mom–in this future, without a husband and kids?

@ 5 DemetriosX
Don’t forget the Unification two-parter.

I believe that they were thinking of the Borg this early, but as we know most of the reasons the Borg became awesome were accidental. They couldn’t afford insect suits, so they went with cyborgs. As such, their threat as an enemy changed from repulsion (or echoes of Ender’s Game/Starship Troopers) to a whole metaphor for mechanization and the quest for perfection. It’s interesting, though, that the “hive” idea survived, as it became one of the scarier concepts in SF, losing oneself and one’s individuality. So I believe that it was probably planned this early, but the parts that worked later may have been accidental.

@ 7 etomlins
That episode with the Romulan and La Forge (“The Enemy”) is one of my favorites. I consider it an overlooked gem.

Re: entertainment, it’s always been weird to me that no form of television exists, the assumption being (I guess) that the holodeck has replaced it. What about the appeal of stories? I have a Kinect, but I don’t always want to be Player 1. Sometimes I just want to watch a good story. And has anyone noticed that whenever there are “the arts”–music, theater, art–they’re always classical, or Shakespeare, or 20th century modern? Where’s all the contemporary art, music, books?

I guess people read, but it seems like people mostly socialize in their free time. I assume it’s kind of like an overseas military base–there’s nowhere to really go, so you hang out with your friends, play cards and games, drink a lot, write letters home?

@ 14 Ludon
I think the lack of long-term vision is only partly the writers’ fault. Shows were built for syndication, and thus demanded a reset button at the end. TNG was just beginning to play with breaking that mold, so I don’t necessarily begrudge their failures on that point.

@ 17 Toryx and CaitieCait
Thank you so much! This made me feel all warm and fuzzy. :) Like Eugene, I sometimes ask myself if this is the best use of my time (ESPECIALLY THIS SEASON YOU GUYS), but you folks make it all worth it, and I appreciate both our community’s intelligence and civility. We’re living the Star Trek dream!

It’s also kind of crazy that we’ve been chatting with you guys for three years. THREE. YEARS. I talk about you to friends like you’re here and we actually hang out on a weekly basis.

21.DemetriosX

Posted May 31, 2012 at 6:00 AM

@20 Torie
I had forgotten about Unification, but for me that was really more Spock than Romulans.

I remain unconvinced that the writers knew where they were going at this point. Maybe there was a vague concept of a large external threat, but what they came up with didn’t quite fit the details of this episode. But then, I was actually surprised that they knew where Odo came from on DS9.

The idea of the hive and the loss of individuality had long been a minor trope in SF by the time the Borg came along. Of course, it was often a metaphor for communism in those days. Right off the top of my head, though, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which was based on a Jack Finney novel), an episode in Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children, and part of Haldeman’s Forever War.

@ 21 DemetriosX
I’m not saying the hive idea was original, just that it’s interesting it held over to the cyborgs from the bug concept they had to drop.

23.Karen

Posted August 2, 2012 at 2:12 AM

For your information, The Neutral Zone was the first episode of TNG I saw and hooked me on the show – forever. It is my favorite episode. Every time I get down about current events, I think about that episode. I can’t wait for there to be no material needs, no hunger, and best of all, no power. I can’t wait to grow “out of our infancy.” Thank God for Roddenberry! It also made me imagine how I would have reacted if I had been one of them. I also thought about the Romulans … and how much they remind me of other leaders from other countries … and our own leaders sometimes. Most of all, it gave me hope about our future. “After all … anything’s possible.”

Doesn’t anyone know that by having the Enterprise crew talk about how primitive humans back in the day were, they sound exactly like Mr. 1 percent there?

More aptly, it makes them sound like the sort of people who act all snobby and superior to the ‘1 percent.’ Roddenberry certainly fell into that demographic. Indeed, that’s literally what is happening here, in terms of Ralph. Yuppie jerk! Why wasn’t he morally superior enough to be born in a society built around a fantastical technology that magically solved all material want?

Roddenberry made himself a member of the ‘1 percent,’ obviously, but apparently it was OK when he did it.